Public Pensions

The challenges facing public pension programs are nationwide – states, counties, and municipal governments from almost every state are beginning to reckon with the promises made to employees over the course of generations, and the fiscal realities of both meeting those obligations while at the same time realizing that promises made for prior generations are not fiscally sustainable for future ones.

Floridians look at places like Detroit, California, Chicago, and others and rightly worry that we could find ourselves in the same position. While Florida’s statewide retirement system, which covers state government, the State University System, and county/school district employees is considered relatively sound financially, it maintains this position as a direct result of hundreds of millions of dollars from state appropriations every year. At the municipal level, the problem is much more dire – pension funds from large and small cities around the state present as a ticking time bomb, where retiring workers’ benefits will vastly outnumber the resources available to meet them.

JMI will continue to work to advance the concepts of defined contribution programs for new public sector employees, along with market-based reforms that better illustrate the financial situations of public pension programs.

Recent News

By: Jennifer Huddleston Transportation is on the verge of its biggest renaissance in almost a century. From dockless scooters and autonomous vehicles to “flying taxis” and supersonic air travel, technology is rapidly changing the way we get from point A to point B in the 21st Century. In many of these [...]

SUNSHINE STATE NEWS February 19, 2019 With Florida facing an opioid crisis, one of the leading think tanks in Florida is calling for reforming mandatory minimum sentences. The James Madison Institute (JMI), a group based out of Tallahassee that supports free market solutions, unveiled a study on Tuesday which finds that mandatory [...]

FLORIDA POLITICS February 20, 2019 By: Jacob Ogles Low-level drug incarcerations required by mandatory minimum sentencing costs Florida more than $100 million annually. That’s according to a study from the James Madison Institute suggesting the tough stance failed in its chief objectives. Report authors Greg Newburn and Sal Nuzzo say lawmakers in the name of fiscal [...]